Looking for a YouTube source on Alexander von Humboldt, I took a break to listen to “Rainy Days and Mondays” performed by The Carpenters (see Vevo link below). As the song played, I scrolled down and read many listener comments, most of whom would make the composer, Paul Williams, proud, as his songs have a knack for nostalgia. Think Rainbow Connection, for example.
One comment serves to summarize most:
“This song brings me back to the 70’s when I was a young boy. All of my sisters and I were still living at home with my mom and dad. My dad worked in a refinery and my mom was a housewife. Dinner was always ready at 4:30pm. We’d watch “I Love Lucy” reruns on our small TV while we ate. Everyone I loved and cared about was still alive and healthy. Now, so many of the people in my life that meant so very much to me are gone. How I wish I could go back in time…but when I hear great music like this, I close my eyes, and all of those wonderful memories come rushing back into my mind.”
I appreciate the comment and recognize it is one shared by many, and my intent is not to criticize, for I do sympathize with the sentiment.
Thornton Wilder wrote about this very emotion in his no-nonsense Pulitzer Prize winning play, Our Town. Very briefly, the story is set on an empty stage, with a stage manager and the performers. It takes us from the childhood to the death of one of the protagonists, Emily. She is distraught at not having had the understanding and wisdom, during life, of appreciating and cherishing every moment with friends and, especially, family. She is given the opportunity to return on her 12th birthday to her home in Grover’s Corners only to see her initial joy turn to pain. The pain comes from seeing how little we appreciate one another and how fast every minute flies by as we go about our daily routines, seemingly ignoring each other.
She begs to return to the cemetery.
The play was written in 1938. It is still popular today, the most recent revival in New York City, in 2009, for the longest production in its history. The message still resonates.
So when we (and we all have some regrets about how we have invested or wasted our time) say we’d like to go back for a day, or a year, would we really do it differently? Would we truly appreciate our home and loved ones?
One way we can answer that question is to appreciate them now. Today. And going forward.
I’ve read Our Town several times and I guess it’s time to read it again.
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